Kearns Day 3: 34 Seconds Down; 34 To Go

A double dose of shocking news emanated from the Utah Olympic Oval Monday afternoon; no world records in the men's 500, and a major obstacle to an American gold medal was eliminated in a surreal beginning to his pairing, the last one of the race.

American Casey Fitzrandolph stands 34 seconds and change from securing his country's first gold medal in speed skating since February 23, 1994, as he leads the field on the first day of men's 500m competition at the Olympics.

Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan is just .19 of a second behind him in second, and in a stunning surprise, Kip Carpenter, another American, is in third. National record holder Joe Cheek is in seventh as just 45/100ths of a second separate first from seventh. Marc Pelchat, the other American finished 35th.

The results of the first of two men's 500m races (the gold medal will be decided beginning at 3 p.m. tomorrow in Kearns, Utah):

1. Casey FitzRandolph (USA) 34.42

2. Hiroyasu Shimizu (JPN) 34.61

3. Kip Carpenter (USA) 34.68

4. Gerard van Velde (NED) 34.72

5. Kyu-Hyuk Lee (KOR) 34.74

6. Mike Ireland (CAN) 34:77

7. Joe Cheek (USA) 34.87

8. Toyoki Takeda (JPN) 35:00

9. Erben Wennemars (NED) 35.00

10. Dimitry Lobkov (RUS) 35.09

11. Sergei Klevchenja (RUS) 35.10

12. Jan Bos (NED) 35:14

13. Kuniomi Haneishi (JPN) 35.15

14. Janne Hanninen (FIN) 35.18

15. Manabu Horii (JPN) 35.30

16. Pawel Abratkiewicz (POL) 35.40

17. Jae-Bong Choi (KOR) 35.45

18. Michael Kazel (GER) 35.47

19. Dimitri Dorofejev (RUS) 35.48

20. Patrick Bouchard (CAN) 35.54

21. Yu Li (CHN) 35.62

22. Davide Carta (ITA) 35.70

23. Tomasz Swist (POL) 35.72

24. Eric Brisson (CAN) 35.86

25. Jae-Man Park (KOR) 36.05

26. Zsolt Balo (HUN) 36.24

27. Andrei Fomin (UKR) 36.26

28. Ermanno Ioratti (ITA) 36.30

29. Ids Postma (NED) 36.41

30. Dino Gillarduzzi (ITA) 36.42

31. Christian Breuer (GER) 36.50

32. Jan Friesinger (GER) 36.80

33. Aleksei Chatilov (BLS) 37.40

34. Marc Pelchat (USA) 37.59

35. Jeremy Wotherspoon (CAN) fall

36. Fengtong Yu (CHN) fell

37. Grunde Njafs (NOR) fell

38. Chul-Soo Kim (KOR) fell

No, that is not a typo. Wotherspoon, defending three-time world sprint champion and silver medallist from the '98 Games in Nagano, and World Cup points leader on the 500, just four strides into his pairing with Bos, caught the toe of his left skate on the ice and stumbled forward. He did not finish the race.

Here are the pairings for Tuesday's potentially historic day:

1. Yu - Wotherspoon

2. Chatilev - Njos

3. Breuer - Kim

4. Postma - Pelchat

5. Park - Gillarduzzi

6. Brisson - Fomin

7. Carta - Balo

8. Li - Swist

9. Bouchard - Dorofejev

10. Choi - Kanzel

11. Abratkiewicz - Haneishi

12. Friesinger - Ioratti

13. Horii - Klevtsjenja

14. Hanninen - Lobkov

15. Bos - Takeda

16. Wennemars -Lee

17. Cheek - van Velde

18. Ireland - Shimizu

19. Carpenter - FitzRandolph

More on what Claudia Pechstein accomplished by winning the Olympic 3,000 meters...

She is now tied for fourth among women speed skaters with three Olympic titles, along with Karin Kania of the former East Germany, Yvonne Van Gennip of the Netherlands and Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann of Germany. She goes for undisputed possession of third place February 23 on the 5,000, where she will defend her title.

She also is the second woman skater to win gold in three Winter Olympics, and just the ninth to win gold on more than one distance since women's speed skating was introduced as an Olympic sport 42 years ago. It was her sixth career Olympic medal, tied with Blair and Russian legend Lydia Skoblikova (six golds -- two in 1960, all four women's races in '64, 16 years before Heiden ran the table on the men's side), and only the third woman to win three medals on two different distances (Blair and Niemann-Stirnemann are the other two).

Chris Witty may indeed take the safe road and withdraw from the women's 500 meters Wednesday, per a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel today. A final decision has yet to be reached, per American speed skating coach Tom Cushman, but it would appear that since the 500 is a two-race affair, like the men, it may sap much-needed strength from the silver medallist on the Olympic 1,000 and bronze on the metric mile (1,500). Witty is still attempting to recover from mononucleosis. A decision will be made sometime tomorrow or perhaps a game-time decision (the women's 500 begins Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. eastern to accommodate NBC televising it live, an arrangement made over a year ago).

What Others Are Saying (about speed skating):

"Inside the main room of Heineken's Holland House, fanaticism rules.

"Grown men sport orange wigs with pigtails while the whole crowd bobs and hops to music piped in through loudspeakers or sung live by anyone with -- or without -- a voice.

"In the world of athletics, the Netherlands are all about speed skating and little else. During the Games, the country has one snowboarder, two bobsled teams and one lucky short track skater who got to meet U.S. President George W. Bush. "When the Dutch lose at speed skating, it's a big deal. When they win, it's everything. And Uytdehaage, they say, just hours after winning in Salt Lake, is already the country's newest national hero." -- Stephen Speckman, The Deseret News

"So far, the comforts of home have eluded Jennifer Rodriguez, who can finish seventh in a 3000-meter speed skating race just about anywhere.

"It seems a person gets only so much mileage out of fast ice, good friends and thin air or any combination of the above. Still, when Rodriguez skated out of the money in her third-best event it was viewed as a little bit of a Star Spangled disappointment, and she knew it."

-- Dale Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

"I don't race for medals. I definitely have a shot to medal in the next two races, but that's not all I'm looking for. That's what you guys are looking for. That's all you guys care about.

-- Jennifer Rodriguez, after hearing reporters' questions about if she was worried that fans would treat her seventh place on the 3,000 as a regression from Nagano, where she placed fourth.

"Speed skating was always the domain of Eric, Bonnie and Dan. Cold-weather types from Wisconsin or Minnesota, paler than the snow they shoveled to uncover their training grounds, they wowed the world without necessarily inspiring emulation.

"Want to be the next Bonnie Blair? Move to Minneapolis. The next Eric Heiden? Try Green Bay. It was a sport that seemed limited by the map as much as it was by the means needed to afford it.

"Something happened during the weekend, though, something that speed skating officials hope will ignite participation of this funding-starved sport if it should happen a few more times before this Winter Olympics concludes two Sundays from now."

-- Sam Donnellon, The Philadelphia Daily News

On Wotherspoon's wipeout Monday:

Fitzrandolph: "That was one of the hardest things in speed skating I have ever had to see in my life. He is one of my best friends and it was really hard to see that happen."